This disclosure relates to a display device capable of achieving stereoscopic display by a parallax barrier system, and a liquid crystal element used in such a display device.
Recently, attention has been focused on a display device capable of achieving stereoscopic display. In stereoscopic display, a left-eye image and a right-eye image with parallax therebetween (with different eyepoints) are displayed, and when a viewer views the respective images with two eyes, the viewer may perceive a deep stereoscopic image. In addition, a display device has been developed, which displays three or more images with parallax thereamong, making it possible to provide a more natural stereoscopic image to a viewer.
Such display devices are roughly classified into two types: one using special glasses and the other using no special glasses. Since the special glasses are often unpleasant for a viewer, the type using no special glasses has been generally desired. A display device requiring no special glasses includes, for example, a lenticular lens type and a parallax barrier type. In such types, a plurality of images (perspective images) with parallax therebetween is displayed at a time, and a viewer views different images depending on a relative positional relationship (angle) between the display device and the eyepoint of the viewer. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-86506, a parallax barrier type display device in which liquid crystal barriers are configured to extend in an oblique direction of a display screen in order to suppress occurrence of crosstalk and moire is proposed.
Incidentally, in a display device displaying two-dimensional images, a wide viewing angle is generally desired. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009-151204 and 2002-107730, a so-called multi-domain type display device is proposed as a liquid crystal display device. In the multi-domain type display device, a pixel electrode configured of stems and branches is divided into a plurality of regions, and the branches are configured to extend in different directions between regions, so that the viewing angle is symmetrical in a lateral direction and in a longitudinal direction to achieve a wide viewing angle.